I agree with the marketing and analyst experts andwould also add that social media is translating directly into sales for several companies/brands. For example:

-Speakers utilize social networks to drive leads to their main website and track how many paid speaking opportunities were booked due to social media promotion

-Restaurants listen for customer tweets about being hungry and answer them directly with a unique link to place an order online for food delivery from their restaurant (and track sales via the links or special landing site built for this social purpose)

-Fashion retailers post photos of their merchandise on Pinterest with direct links to purchase the items on their online store and track sales from Pinterest via back-end analytics

-Stores post a “secret word of the week” exclusively on their social channels that if given to the cashier, they receive a discount (and track sales through this unique, word of mouth promo code)

-Companies hosting a conference promote unique links via its social channels to its registration website and track sales from how many individuals clicked the link and paid for their conference pass

-Brands promote unique links to their website’s “request a demo” page for their product and track how many demos, and eventually, purchases were made that started with the links posted exclusively to social media

In short, a company that has established measurable goals for social media and is actively pursuing them with a focused strategy is on its way to reaping the benefits of social networks.